By Jacob Nyongesa
I am in a public transport vehicle one evening and I strike a conversation with a woman seated next to me. We talk about the new regulations by government to have public transport resume normal services amidst the surging Covid-19 numbers in the country.
I inquire whether she has been vaccinated and her response was a straight no. She gives two reasons: one, was that she might eventually turn into an alien and, two, the vaccine interferes with the DNA of the host. Source of info? She belongs to a WhatsApp group where such issues are discussed.
On March 2, a year after the first case was reported in the country, Kenya received 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines. This marked a great milestone in the fight to liberate the country from the virus. While receiving the vaccines, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe shared a deployment plan with priority given to healthcare workers and security personnel.
Currently, only 1.79 million Kenyans have been vaccinated. This leaves out a considerable number of people who are yet to be partially or fully vaccinated. There have been concerns from the public on the efficacy of the vaccines, with many casting aspersions on the uptake of the vaccine.
Some of the questions and myths raised and shared about the vaccines include concerns about side effects. Whether one could suffer blood clots, or be infected thereafter, safety of the jab for pregnant mothers and whether the vaccine can alter the DNA of the host.
These myths have led to a lot of fear amongst people leading to reluctance to get vaccinated. The biggest enablers in the spread of misinformation are reported to be blogs and other social media platforms. Here are seven ways one can easily identify fake COVID-19 stories shared on social media.
- Is it a ‘breaking news’ story: During the pandemic a lot of content has been shared on social media with the ‘breaking news’ tag. This is a very common trick used by blogs to catch users unawares. A click on such links leads to an undated story. The best way to check the ‘breaking news’ stories is simply look for the date when it was published.
- Unknown web addresses: It is important for any user to always check the source of information found online. The URL of any website that looks suspect should be keenly checked. An example is who.int and who.org. If one is not careful, they can easily mistake the later as the site for World Health Organisation. A little keenness and scrutiny are needed to save one from being misinformed.
- Who else is talking about the story? In this pandemic there has been an abundance of information and chances of misinformation are high. When one gets information from any source, check with other reputable media houses to see if they covered or shared the story. In most cases a fake story will be confined to questionable sites. This calls for more research to corroborate the information provided.
- How sensational is the headline? To grab the attention of their readers online, most purveyors of misinformation will use catchy headlines and phrases to attract people to read through. With the increase in competition for eyeballs online, content creators will use overly sensational headlines as click baits. ‘Seven facts about COVID-19, the last one will shock you’. Such a headline will interest a lot of people to read the article that ends up giving obvious facts. This trend has become common during the pandemic and most content creators are taking advantage to mislead the public.
- Bias: Journalism calls for objectivity in reporting. Now, any deviation from it could be interpreted as being partial. Unless an article is an editorial or opinion piece then all news articles must give all sides a fair chance to be heard. As one reads any information, the big question should be what they stand to gain from the story.
- Who is the author? Has the person who has shared the story or article published anything else? Always check the byline of the person writing the story and do a search. Most fake news websites will pick people who have no journalistic skills to write stories.
- Hoaxes: Those who purvey misinformation will use falsified celebrities accounts to advance their narrative. In some instances, fake twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook accounts and pages of celebrities have been created and used to share false information.
Finally, there is a need for continuous awareness creation on what is false and what is not on social media platforms. Helping journalists and online users understand that when they share misinformation, they become part of the vicious web that ‘pollutes the information’ ecosystem. This can only be done when we collaborate in our efforts.
In view of this, you can always get in touch with MCK’s fact-checking desk at editor@mediaobserver.co.ke, and we will support all your fact-checking needs.
The writer is senior officer research, planning and strategy at MCK
